A spectrophotometer may be used in printers. It may be used as a component of the printer calibration and control system. It may serve to detect miscalibrated color properties by analysis of printouts and emit signals to the printer for re-calibration of the printer.
Spectrophotometer malfunction may lead to miscalibration of the printer. For instance, a malfunctioning spectrophotometer may detect miscalibrated color properties despite flawless printing quality (false positive signal). In this case, the well-calibrated printer may be lead to re-calibrate, thereby actually inducing printing defects. Similarly, a malfunctioning spectrophotometer may miss to detect actual miscalibrated color properties (false negative signal). In this case, the miscalibrated printer is not re-calibrated and the printing quality is not improved despite the need for improvement. Therefore, spectrophotometer diagnosis systems and methods, which may detect spectrophotometer malfunctions, are needed.